The man behind Americans for Progressive Action’

Saturday

Jun 22, 2013 at 5:15 PMJun 22, 2013 at 9:17 PM

Example #3 of the cynicism of the Senate campaign:

Those of us who live here in Massachusetts can cast our votes Tuesday to help out the candidate of our choice. We can spend the next few days phoning friends or knocking on doors to express our preference and, if we can afford it, we can donate up to $2,600 to our candidate’s campaign.

Then there’s John Jordan, who can’t vote here because he lives in California and is unlikely to knock on any Bay State doors. Instead, he’s underwriting a campaign on behalf of Gabriel Gomez, to the tune of $1.5 million. He’s the sole donor, the WSJ reports, to the Americans for Progressive Action, a newborn front behind a lot of the TV and online Gomez ads we’ve seen in the closing days of the campaign.

Jordan runs Jordan Winery in Sonoma, a family business built with the fortune his father owned in the oil and gas industry. He seems like a nice enough guy, a longtime GOP donor who favors gay marriage and abortion rights and feels the national party has been pulled too far to the right. Indirectly associated with Michelle Bachmann and Karl Rove, and directly associated with Dick Morris, he says he never met Gomez, and stepped in because the national party wasn’t doing enough.

“I am not the usual political creature,” he said. “I am just a guy in California who just couldn’t sit by.”

Frankly, I don’t care if he supports Gomez or Markey. A lot of Markey money is coming from out of state, and while I’ve yet to see a mystery billionaire in his corner, superPAC money is insidious no matter who benefits from it.

The point is that guys in California should just sit by. It’s our Senate seat, not theirs. Would-be kingmakers like Mr. Jordan are among many reasons why Congress should undo Citizens United and fix the campaign finance system.

Rick Holmes

Example #3 of the cynicism of the Senate campaign:

Those of us who live here in Massachusetts can cast our votes Tuesday to help out the candidate of our choice. We can spend the next few days phoning friends or knocking on doors to express our preference and, if we can afford it, we can donate up to $2,600 to our candidate’s campaign.

Then there’s John Jordan, who can’t vote here because he lives in California and is unlikely to knock on any Bay State doors. Instead, he’s underwriting a campaign on behalf of Gabriel Gomez, to the tune of $1.5 million. He’s the sole donor, the WSJ reports, to the Americans for Progressive Action, a newborn front behind a lot of the TV and online Gomez ads we’ve seen in the closing days of the campaign.

Jordan runs Jordan Winery in Sonoma, a family business built with the fortune his father owned in the oil and gas industry. He seems like a nice enough guy, a longtime GOP donor who favors gay marriage and abortion rights and feels the national party has been pulled too far to the right. Indirectly associated with Michelle Bachmann and Karl Rove, and directly associated with Dick Morris, he says he never met Gomez, and stepped in because the national party wasn’t doing enough.

“I am not the usual political creature,” he said. “I am just a guy in California who just couldn’t sit by.”

Frankly, I don’t care if he supports Gomez or Markey. A lot of Markey money is coming from out of state, and while I’ve yet to see a mystery billionaire in his corner, superPAC money is insidious no matter who benefits from it.

The point is that guys in California should just sit by. It’s our Senate seat, not theirs. Would-be kingmakers like Mr. Jordan are among many reasons why Congress should undo Citizens United and fix the campaign finance system.